PASTOR BIRCHS TESTIMONIAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8535, 8 April 1891, Page 6

PASTOR BIRCHS TESTIMONIAL

AN ENTHUSIASTIC MEETING. , A large and enthusiastic meeting assembled in St. James's Hall last night, to present Pastor Birch with a testimonial, bearing some 2000 signatures. The building was crowded to the doors. A strong and efficient choir was present, and the proceedings were opened by the singing of a hymn. Mr. Herapath occupied the chair. On Mr. Birch stepping on to the platform almost unbounded enthusiasm was displayed by the audience. Mr. Fry stated that notwithstanding what had been said outside about many signing the testimonial under a false impression, when it had been notified that anyone who so desired could have his name struck off, no one had responded. The name of the secretary of the Gospel Temperance Mission had been removed as secretary, so that there should be no cause for complaint from anyone. Mr. Fry also read a letter from Mr. Smith, of the Freeman's Bay Mission, expressing his regret that he was unable to attend.

The Chairman said that he would not make any lengthy remarks. He was sure they were all glad to welcome Mr. Birch back from his journey over the water. (Applause.) He did not , come to _ the meeting to apologise for Mr. Birch, but he sympathised with him in the persecution and opposition which he had lately received. They should sympathise with the weak. He understood that the meeting was a protest against the persecution and persistent ill-will Mr. Birch had received during his stay in Auckland. Mr. Herepath then called upon Mr. C. B. Stone to make the presentation. Mr. Stone made the following statement: The duty I have to perform to-night is at the same time both pleasant and painful— pleasant because it is the presentation to one we have learned to love and esteem, of a testimonial showing our confidence in him as a preacher of the truth; painful because of the sympathy that is needed, and which we have had to tender to him through the cruel treatment that he has received at the hands of those who should have helped him in the work of the Church, over which God had placed him to preside, which treatment has compelled him to resign the _ pastorate, it being impossible for _ him to work any longer successfully with them. The painful jpart is to have to touch upon some of the causes of the pastor's resignation, and the fear lest wc may be misunderstood; for we need to be careful that we say nothing but what is strictly in accordance with truth and honesty, nor show anything of feeling that may look or sound un-Christianlike. We do not want to show any spirit such as we say the opposition have shown; 'but it has been very painful to witness what I have ; for though laid aside with sickness during all the time of the last trouble and the climax of affairs, still, from letters in the papers, statements by friends who have visited me, by letters I have received from folks far and near, and lastly, by that abortive attempt to reply to a plain statement of facts written to the Star of March the 10th, called a " Church Circular," — have tended to show the bitterness that exists, and the strength of feeling manifested_ against the pastor. How untruthful, how distorted, how childish some of the assertions made, and how mean some of the measures resorted to, by people who ought to have known better, to prevent people from signing the testimonial instead of calling upon the Church as a whole to present one themselves to the retiring pastor. I am sorry to hear that even some of the ministers are keeping themselves aloof from Mr. Birch since his return, and have refused to sign the_ testimonial. Even one of our own Baptist ministers when asked at the time of his Sunday-school anniversary to send Mr. and Mrs. Birch an invitation to be present refused to do so, though numbers of his own people would have been very glad to have seen them there. No wonder the. world points at us and says, "Behold how these Christians love one another." As to some of the misstatements of the Church Circular, I will content myself with mentioning one of them. One of the clauses states that " they who wrote the letter to the Star of the 10th of March, and others are taking steps to secure the return of Mr. Birch, and by forming another church under his guidance split up the Tabernacle Church." This statement is quite untrue. I am sure those who mav perhaps have asked the pastor to come back and preach to them never thought of such a wicked thing as " splitting up the Tabernacle Church," but merely of securing one whose ministry did them so much good, lifting them heavenwards, not mystifying and depressing. them. 'Speaking for "myself directly, if the pastor has not destroyed my letters to him while in Sydney, he cannot find one single word about a future, or " another church under his guidance;" and I think I am right when 1 say, that though the pastor has an invitation to Sydney, he has not at all decided yet what he thinks the Lord means him to do in the future; but if it is to work in Auckland I shall go with him, so will many others. Hitherto I have kept myself perfectly clear as to any promise of what I should do in the future, as I was a deacon of the Tabernacle until yesterday, when I resigned, feeling I could no longer work as an officer of a church manifesting the spirit it has done of late. Therefore, I am now free to act as duty dictates; but the Tabernacle friends surely need not fear another church, or mission hall, if God does see lit to keep Mr. Birch here. When we hear that there are still 20,000 people in Auckland who do not go to any place of worship, there is plenty of work here yet for half-a-dozen Mr. Birch's to do. I am clad to see that one clause of the " church circular " states that " they admire and esteem Air. Birch as a Christian gentleman," but I wonder how they would have treated him had they not so admired and esteemed him ?" and why they wrote such a circular at all, when they knew he was such a Christian. This is really too thin, it won't wash. It is because Mr. Birch has been too scriptural for some that has caused the trouble. The Devil does not like scriptural holiness, and he stirs up even the Church against it. It was Mr. Birch's fearless preaching against sin in any shape, and at every opportunity, that troubled those who were not prepared to give themselves wholly up, owing to, perhaps, some darling sin, perhaps some questionable practice in business or in their social life, or half-dozen of other causes ; and to be told of these makes bitter enemies of some of those who should uphold the preacher of holiness. Mr. Birch has at any rate the melancholy satisfaction, if it is any. which I very much doubt, of knowing that he is not the only Baptist minister that has had trouble with the church ; we Baptists must certainly be a very cantankerous lot. All the Tabernacle pastors, one after another, have had to leave with very sore hearts. I have been in the confidence of each of them. The present dear pastor, who is with them, had many an achintr heart over them years ago, and his own son vowed he would never enter a, Baptist church again, and has, I believe, kept his vow. The next pastor I shall never forget'about, and the long hour I spent with him walking up and down the road in the moonlight, talking over his troubles with the church just before he resigned ; and the last pastor, Mr. Spurgeon, resigned under cover of failing health, but I well know where the sore spot was. Mr. Birch's case has certainly been worse, because perhaps lie could bear a little more before lie gave in. I was somewhat pleased that even at last night's one-sided Tabernacle meeting, where the Church refused, with very bad taste, not- to say un-Christ-like spirit, to cancel the vote of censure passed by a large majority at their last meeting, it was only confirmed last night by the small majority of seven votes — believe it wasbut as I told them there, a vote of censure, under existing circumstances just now at the Tabernacle, was rather a compliment than otherwise. Dear Pastor Birch, allow me, on behalf of the {about 2000) persons who have signed this testimonial, to present it to you in their names, hoping that it may help to assure you of their confidence and sympathy, and that it may be useful to you in the future in God's service ; and may He bless you, and make you a blessing to hundredsyea, thousandsof souls in Auckland, or wherever He may call you to labour. Mr. Birch, who was received with great enthusiasm, said that this gracious present, and this graceful audience to-night, made persecution, if it might be called such, only a glory and a blessing. He could not speak out the words which he felt of thansgiving to Cod that this company, and the friends on the platform assured him, that he thought he might take it for granted that the blessing of God had been and still was with him. It was true that there had been some oLJyosition, but in saying so he meant no' improper reflections. However, when he placed before him the men and women who had been against him, and those men of honoUi.who were with him, he thought that if men of integrity and consistent Christian life had spoken of him in the terms that had been used by the opposition, he would have gone from Auckland with a broken heart. But when he found the true men who would stand by him, he felt that , to come back to Auckland was like coming back to Paradise. Before coming to New Zealand he read a letter in London from the Auckland Tabernacle, which stated that after purging the roll there remained 600 good members; and also that the church was united in the bonds of love. On hearing these statements Mr. C. H. Spurgeon said, " Why, old man, this church has dropped down from Heaven for you." His prayer on his way out in the steamer had continually been that God-

might make him worthy of such a church. However, when he arrived? he was surprised to find that there had never been a meeting of the church at which more than 300 'members had been present. The others lived in Fiji, Melbourne, and elsewhere. It thus appeared that from some cause he had been, unwittingly no doubt, grossly deceived. Moreover, it was not a church filled with the Holy Ghost, but a church divided. He was told that his preaching would fill the Tabernacle, but divide the church; that he would make a rent. He had always insisted that we must have right ideas of God, and he preached the love of God to all men; that God loved the whole world, and that whosover believed 011 Him should have everlasting life. He preached a faith that showed itself in good works, that paid its debts, and honoured all men. He had denounced men who had done business with those persons who tilled their houses with Greenways and the like and asked would those present think such men Christians, and persons who should sit down at the Lord's Table ? (Cries of "No.") It was because he had preached against such practices that he had been opposed at the Tabernacle. He also met with opposition owing to what he had said about the land. _ He had stated that Christians should do their utmost to lift the burdens that afflicted humanity. They in Auckland were not bread-winners, but they were only distributors ; and if the farmers were not prosperous the people of Auckland must suffer. They wanted the land to be free and to have more men upon it. He had spoken against the 10 and 13 per cent, charged by the Bank of New Zealand and other companies, and he almost wished that he had yielded to the desires which had been expressed by many that he should endeavour to enter Parliament. In this 'colony there were seven million acres locked up, and it would remain locked up until men went and settled round it and enhanced its value. He would like to have a Bill passed to enable the Government to sell all the uninhabited land in the colony to those who would use it, and to give the proceeds to the owners. He had also urged that capital and labour should love one another. With reference to sinless perfection, he had not taught it, but he had spoken of the spirit of perfect obedience. God, our Father, asks us to be loyally obedient to Him, and requires us to do our duty. It was this teaching of his that stank in the Auckland Tabernacle. Religion was service to our fellow-man. _ "To visit the fatherless and widow in their affliction and keep ourselves unspotted from the world." The Lord had undertaken to be in us as a spring of water, and he would keep us clean as a flowing brook does the. pebbles. St. Augustine had well said, " All may live without sin by the grace of God." As for certain persons who believed that their sins, past, present, and to come, were pardoned, that did not exactly mind what they did. He taught that a seller, because he was in needy circumstances, should not be bid down to a ruinous price, but should receive the price that was right between man and man, and God looking on. That a man should not " do others," but do to them as he would be done by. Our bankruptcy laws might legally whitewash a man, and might allow him to settle a nice little income on his wife, but if he left others to suffer on his account and did not strive to remove his debts, even after many years, he did a great injury to his fellow man. He had always hated the paid sittings in the Tabernacle, which tended to divide the rich from the poor, as though they were of different blood. Whether he remained in Auckland or not, he wished to make if known that no man was abandoned, and he would preach the Gospel to every creature. If they built a new house, need they break up the old one 1 Was there not room for a new house, considering the number of people in our city who never went to any church. Let our gentle love, our bravery for God's truth, and our godly lives, be shown forth. _ Let us lift us Auckland, and make it a praise in the earth and an honour to God. (Loud applause). Mr. Knight thought that everyone almost at the meeting would no doubt wish to express their sympathy, so he would say but little. He thought that Mr. Birch was every inch a man. (Cheers.) There was one feature that he would like to refer to, namely, that Mrs. Birch was equally deserving of their svmpathy- (Loud cheers.) Mr. Baker spoke of Mr. Birch's characteristic love and energy, and his works of benevolence and of generosity. He was quite sure that no one had been worried in any way into signing the testimonial. Mr. Hay stated that if Mr. Birch had been a week-kneed man he would have given up long ago ; but he was a man of great determination. and was noted for his manly utterances. He was a man with a high ideal. Mr. Hay stated that notwithstanding what he had'just said he was not going to leave the Tabernacle, as he thought his duty lay there.

A letter of sympathy was also received from residents of Onehunga anil Panmure. Mr. Birch then returned thanks for Mrs. Birch, and himself, and dismissed the meeting with prayer. m